Great phones from 89 bucks! Is the era of the $1000+ smartphone over?

Flagship phones are safe for now, but their commanding lead is steadily under threat from fabulous, fully featured phones. Great phones from 89 bucks and topping out at $799.

Channel Seven Sunrise GadgetGuy Val Quinn was impressed with the vast range of great phones from $69 to $799.

“There is so much choice under $799. It is hard to go wrong with any – all are very good. It comes down to what you want to spend and if you need certain features. Things like water resistance (IP67/68); larger AMOLED screens; AI technology; more RAM/storage; dual cameras will move the cost up a little – but nowhere near the $1000 plus for a flagship.”

GadgetGuy’s advice

Assume all phones within price brackets do similar things. You can’t get everything from an $89 phone!

The new 18:9 format screens are taller but narrower. There is nothing wrong with 16:9 (movie format) screens.

Wi-Fi N is a feature of most. It is perfectly adequate. If you move a lot of data, then look for Wi-Fi AC, but this is usually only in the higher price phones.

Almost all have a microSD slot so don’t worry if the phone has 16GB of RAM. A 32GB card costs around $10.

While we all want great cameras, the lower cost ones are ‘social media’ standard cameras. Great for day and office light shots but not so great at low light. Again, the better dual cameras will cost up to that $799 price ceiling.

Don’t hesitate to buy last years model. For example, the uber flagship LGV30+ is on sale at $799 (was selling for $1199), and at that price, it blows everything out of the water.

If you use your phone a lot look for fast charging. Anything using a Snapdragon 4xx, 6xx, or 8xx will have this, but you may have to buy a rapid charger to use it. OPPO have VOOC fast charge on most models.

Most lower cost phones will not receive a later version of Android. They should receive Android security updates. The exceptions are those using Android 8 One (Pure Android) and Android Go (for 1GB RAM phones). Motorola and Nokia use pure Android and are more likely to offer version updates.

Warranty is usually one year. Don’t fall for so-called extended warranties at extra cost – not worth the paper it is written on.

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Telstra and its network resellers are blitzing the prepaid market with its Essential Plus (Alcatel 1C/3G) at $89. And if you want more, it has the Alcatel 1X/4G at $129 and the Telstra Superior (Alcatel 3V) at $199. Fantastic value, modern 18:9 screens and Alcatel reliability.

GadgetGuy’s low-cost pick here is either the $89 1C/3G if you want a basic, reliable phone. If you need 4G, then the 1X is the option although we suggest you go for the 3V at $199 with a dual camera.

Nokia is just over a year-and-a-half-old under its new Finnish owner HMD. It is an iconic brand, and HMD is doing everything it can to regain the crown. The range starts with the famous 3310/3G ‘dumb’ phone and goes up to the $1000+ luxury 8 Sirocco.

The 3310 is a 3G phone. No need to pay for data or learn to use a smartphone. It is a great little phone with buttons to make calls, send texts and play Nokia’s classic Snake game.

Nokia’s new range is impressive. All screens are 18:9 unless noted. There is both tradition and innovation here. The 8 Sirocco (Review) is a flagship at $1099 and not part of this value line-up.

GadgetGuy’s pick here is the Nokia 7 Plus that offers almost everything that $1,000 flagships do in a very nice, modern Black or White and Copper design.

Motorola is back under new owners Lenovo. It too is an iconic brand. Motorola was used to talk to astronauts. Its RAZR Flips sold a record 130 million. It deserves to succeed. Knowing Lenovo it is back on track.

Lenovo has the C pre-paid at $129. Then is the e5 at $299. After that is the G6 series from $329 to $499. Then the x4 2017 currently at $399. Then the flagship Z series that uses the innovative Moto Mods. Something for everyone!

GadgetGuy’s pick here is the massive 4,000mAh battery in the G6 Play. But we can’t help but like the G6 Plus. It offers value well above its $400 price.

Huawei only started branding their phones a few years ago. Before that, they made white-label phones for many Telcos. In a few short years, they have gone from “Who are we” (actually pronounced Wah-Way) to become the world’s second largest smartphone maker behind Samsung. Incredible.

Huawei has a huge range of phones. We don’t see half of them here. It makes its own ARM chips called Hisilicon Kirin and has a range similar to Qualcomm’s four, six and eight series.

Top of the range is the fantastic camera phone P20 Pro (Huawei / Review), but at $1099 it is not part of this overview. Their mid-range is the Nova series and their entry level Y series.

GadgetGuy’s pick here is the value-packed Nova 3i that has AMOLED screen, 4/128GB memory and much more for $599. Last year you would have happily paid $799 for this!

OPPO are also newcomers arriving in Australia in 2014. OPPO (pronounced Oh-Po) is a force to be reckoned with. Its trademark is the ‘cameraphone‘ and what it does for the price is impressive.

It has the entry-level A-series (under $300), mid-range R-series (under $800) and its new Find X (OPPOGadgetGuy) flagship with a pop-up camera and nearly 100% screen space. That is $1099 and not part of this overview.

GadgetGuy’s pick here is all about ‘moving goalposts’. OPPO launches new models every six months. One day its R9/Plus, R11s/Plus and now R15 Pro is fantastic value. Offering the best in class camera, generous memory, AMOLED screens the R15 Pro is the pick of the litter. But the A73 at $299 provides way above that value too.

LG has some fantastic products that cover from mass market to flagship. Its entry-level includes the pre-paid Leon at $149 and K-series from $249 to $299. Then the Q-series from $399 to $649. Upper-mid-range is the G series. The new G7 Thin Q at $1099 is everything you need in any smartphone but not part of this review.

A little-known trick with LG is to bag a bargain on last year’s models. The 2017 flagship G6 (predecessor to the new G7) is down from $1099 to $599 at JB.

GadgetGuy’s pick is the uber flagship V series – the V30+. It has been software/firmware upgraded to ThinQ and usually sells for $1199. It is on special at JB Hi-Fi at $799. If you can stretch the budget, it blows everything else in that price range out of the water. All prices in brackets below are from JB Hi-Fi